Air conditioning apparatus

ABSTRACT

There is provided an air conditioning apparatus including an air duct and provided therein with a blower, a heater, a humidifier and an air cooling dehumidifier comprised of an air-fluid heat exchanger, 
     characterized in that: 
     the said air cooling dehumidifier is disposed at a site that is shifted transversely from an air blowing outlet of the said air duct.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to an air conditioning apparatus forsupplying an ultra-isothermic and ultra-isohumid air into an operatingsection (hereinafter referred to as a "cup") in a so-called spin coatingequipment (hereinafter referred to as a "spin coater") or the like thatis designed to coat a chemical on a semiconductor or glass substratesurface while the latter is being rotated.

BACKGROUND ART

An air conditioning apparatus of this genre in the prior art istypically constructed as disclosed, for example, in Japanese UnexaminedPatent Publication No. Hei 02-1113 (relating to a regist processingapparatus) or in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. Hei04-139345 (relating to a method of and apparatus for supplying anisothermic and isohumid air).

The former typical example above in the prior art is comprised of an aircooling dehumidifier for cooling an absorbed air and dehumidifying thecooled air, a heater for heating the air so dehumidified to apredetermined temperature and a humidifier for humidifying the heatedair to a predetermined humidity. And, the said air cooling dehumidifiermay be comprised of a compression refrigerator in which a compressedrefrigerant is passed through a pipe provided with a multiplicity offins to cool and dehumidify the air that is brought into contact withthose fins.

On the other hand, the latter typical example above in the prior art iscomprised of a humidifier for humidifying an absorbed air to apredetermined humidity, an air cooling dehumidifier for cooling anddehumidifying the air so humidified, a heater for heating the humidityadjusted air to a predetermined temperature and a blower for feeding theair through these units. And, this air conditioning apparatus in whichthe air cooling dehumidifier and the humidifier are large and heavy isinstalled separately from a spin coater, and is used in a manner inwhich an ultra-isothermic and ultra-isohumid air is supplied into a cupvia a thermally insulated duct or the like.

Incidentally, in the former typical apparatus mentioned above in whichthe dehumidifier is large and heavy, it has been found that the problemarises that the entire size of the air conditioning equipment in itstotality must also be enlarged.

Also, owing to the fact there that it is unable to optionally adjust theair processing capacity of the apparatus, it has been found that if itis forcibly attempted to make any adjustment without regard to such aninability, the cross sectional area of an air duct must be altered.

Furthermore, vibrations are unavoidably created in the above mentionedapparatus due to the fact that use is made of a compressor for thedehumidifier therein. Hence, the problem has always been encounteredthat a critical measure is required in order to prevent those vibrationsfrom adversely influencing upon a coating that is comprised of a registor the like.

On the other hand, in the latter typical air conditioning apparatusmentioned above, it has been found that some usage thereof may introducea thermal disturbance into a thermally insulated duct therein and thusmake it difficult to adjust the temperature and humidity therein at asatisfactory precision. Also, as the spin coater is increased in itsfunctions, there is a tendency for its equipment to be more and morelarge scaled. Thus, there being a tendency for a duct coupling the airconditioning apparatus and the cup together to be lengthened, there hasbeen a fear that the accuracy at which the temperature and the humidityare adjustable may be lowered.

Furthermore, a need for reducing the floor area which the airconditioning apparatus occupies in a clean room has been increasinglydemanded because the cost for maintaining the clean room is highlyexpensive.

These problems may be resolved by installing an air conditioningapparatus that is small sized directly upon the cup of the spin coaterand thus by removing the thermally insulated duct that has coupled theair conditioning apparatus and the cup together while eliminating theflour area that has been required for the air conditioning apparatus.

In this respect, a relevant idea has been found in a "regist processingapparatus" as disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No.Hei 02-1113 that is listed above as the former typical example in theprior art.

If this idea is adopted, however, the resultant equipment has been foundto be impractical since an amount of condensed water is allowed to droponto a wafer and so forth because of the structure in which a verticallaminar flow is introduced directly over the said cup to carry out adehumidification thereof. In addition, the air which is dehumidified bythe said air cooling dehumidifier is humidified by the said humidifierthat is located immediately below it. Then, the humidified air is heatedby an heat exchanger that is located below the said humidifier. There,since the said air cooling dehumidifier is located directly above thesaid heater, it has been found that there develops, among others, theproblem that the efficiency of dehumidification may be deterioratedowing to a heat of radiation that is emitted from the said heater and soforth.

The present invention is provided with the above mentioned problemstaken into consideration and has its object to provide an airconditioning apparatus which avoids an amount of condensed waterdropping from the air blowing outlet of an air duct, is much small sizedas well as much light weighted compared with those utilizing acompression refrigerator in the prior art, eliminates a generation ofthe vibrations, realizes the implementation of an air conditioningoperation that is high in its thermal efficiency while realizing theimplementation of an ultra-high-precision air conditioning operation, iscapable of readily altering the capacity of a heat exchanger and permitsan maintenance operation of the equipment to be readily carried out.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In order to attain the object mentioned above, there is provided, inaccordance with the present invention, in one form of embodimentsthereof, an air conditioning apparatus which includes an air duct and isprovided therein with a blower, a heater, a humidifier and an aircooling dehumidifier comprised of an air-fluid heat exchanger, and ischaracterized in that the said air cooling dehumidifier is disposed at asite that is shifted transversely from an air blowing outlet of the saidair duct.

According to the above mentioned construction, by virtue of the factthat the said air cooling dehumidifier is disposed at a site which isshifted transversely from the said air blowing outlet, it can be seenthat water droplets condensed at the said air cooling dehumidifier willnot be allowed to fall from the said air blowing outlet of the said airduct 5.

In addition to the construction mentioned above, it is desirable thatthe said air duct be provided with a flex portion and that the said aircooling dehumidifier and the said heater be disposed ahead of and behindof the said flex portion, respectively.

Since the opposing surfaces of the said air cooling dehumidifier and thesaid heater are not facing so as to be directly opposite to each otherin the construction mentioned above, it can be recognized that littleinfluence will then be exerted upon the said air cooling unit by theradiation that is emitted from the said heater, thereby preventing thedehumidifying effect from being reduced.

Further, in addition to the construction mentioned above, it isdesirable that a heat absorbing plate and a heat emitting plate in theabove mentioned fluid-fluid heat exchanger be arranged and stacked uponone upon the other so that a path disposed in the said heat absorbingplate and a path disposed in the said heat emitting plate may extendorthogonally to each other and a Peltier element be interposed betweenthe heat absorbing plate and the heat emitting plate mentioned above.

If this construction is adopted, it can been seen that the saidfluid-fluid heat exchanger will allow the said coolant(refrigerant) andthe said cooling water flowing therethrough to be heat exchangedefficiently, owing to the fact that they are flowing orthogonally toeach other.

In this connection, it should be noted that an alternative arrangementmay be adopted in which the said heat absorbing plate and the said heatemitting plate in the above mentioned fluid-fluid heat exchanger isarranged and stacked upon one upon the other so that the said pathdisposed in the said heat absorbing plate and the said path disposed inthe said heat emitting plate may extend in parallel to each other and aPeltier element is interposed between the heat absorbing plate and theheat emitting plate mentioned above.

BRIEF EXPLANATION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention will better be understood from the followingdetailed description and the drawings attached hereto showing certainillustrative embodiments of the present invention. In this connection,it should be noted that such embodiments as illustrated in theaccompanying drawings are intended in no way to limit the presentinvention, but to facilitate an explanation and understanding thereof.

In the accompanying drawings:

FIG. 1 is an entire constructive view illustrating a certain embodimentof the air conditioning apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic constructive view diagrammatically illustrating acertain example of the fluid-fluid heat exchanger for connection to anair cooling dehumidifier that can be used in the above mentionedembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a top plan view illustrating the fluid-fluid heat exchangerfor use in the above mentioned embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a front view illustrating the above mentioned fluid-fluid heatexchanger;

FIG. 5 is a cross sectional view taken along the line V--V of FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is a cross sectional view taken along the line VI--VI of FIG. 3;

FIG. 7 is a graph illustrating the characteristics of a Peltier element:

FIG. 8 is a schematic constructive view diagrammatically illustratinganother example of the fluid-fluid heat exchanger that can be used inthe above mentioned embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 9 is an entire constructive view illustrating another embodiment ofthe air conditioning apparatus according to the present invention.

BEST MODES FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

Hereinafter, suitable embodiments of the present invention with respectto an air conditioning apparatus will be set forth with reference to theaccompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a diagrammatic construction of a first embodiment of theair conditioning apparatus according to the present invention. In thedrawings, numeral 1 designates an air cooling dehumidifier, numeral 2denotes a heater, numeral 3 represents a humidifier and numeral 4indicates a blower, and these units are disposed in series in a flexedair duct 5. And, an air that is drawn by the blower 4 will be cooled anddehumidified while it is passed through the cooling dehumidifier 1, thedehumidified air will be elevated in temperature through the heater 2,and the heated air will be humidified through the humidifier 3 to yieldan air stream of a predetermined humidity and temperature which will besupplied through a filter 4a such as a ULPA filter disposed downstreamsof the blower 4, where it is dusted and rectified, into an operationsection (such as a cup) of a spin coater or the like where it isperforming an air conditioning operation.

The air cooling humidifier 1 and the heater 2 mentioned above aredisposed at both sides of a flex portion of the air duct 5 and arearranged so that their respective opposing surfaces may be facing not tobe directly opposite to each other. Thus, the air flows which are passedthese units, respectively, will be oriented in different directions,forming an angle between them.

Also, the above mentioned air cooling dehumidifier 1 is disposed at asite that is shifted transversely from the air blowing outlet 5a of theair duct 5 so that water droplets which are condensed on the said aircooling dehumidifier 1 may not fall onto the said truck air blowingoutlet 5a.

In order to realize the implementation of an ultra-high-precision airconditioning operation with an accuracy of ±0.01° C., it should be notedhere that the blower 4 is selected from one that is provided with aservo mechanism for the rate of its rotation to quantify constant therate of the air that is to be processed.

The above mentioned air cooling dehumidifier 1, as shown in FIG. 2, hasa construction in which an air-fluid heat exchanger 6 through which acoolant (i.e. a refrigerant) flows is arranged in the air duct 5 so thatthe air passing through the said air duct 5 may be cooled by contactingwith an external surface of the air-fluid heat exchanger 6. And, thisair-fluid heat exchanger 6 has a coolant flow inlet 6a which is disposeddownstreams for the wind flow and a coolant flow outlet 6b which isdisposed upstreams for the wind flow so that the coolant in the saidair-fluid heat exchanger 6 may flow in the direction from the downstreamside to the upstream side of the wind which is flowing through the saidair-fluid heat exchanger 6. The coolant flow inlet 6a and the coolantflow outlet 6b mentioned above are connected to a fluid-fluid heatexchanger 9 via a cooling circuit 7 that is provided therein with a pump8.

The above mentioned fluid-fluid heat exchanger 9, as shown in FIG. 2,has a construction in which a heat absorbing passage 10 through whichthe coolant flows and a heat exhausting passage 11 through which thecooling water flows are stacked one upon the other via a Peltier element12. And, the said heat absorbing passage 10 and the said heat exhaustingpassage 11 are so arranged that the coolant and the cooling water in thesaid fluid-fluid heat exchanger 9 flow in mutually opposite directionsas shown in FIG. 2 or in mutually transverse directions as in a concreteexample of construction as will be described later herein.

FIGS. 3 to 6 collectively show a concrete construction of the abovementioned fluid-fluid heat exchanger 9. In this connection, it should benoted that this construction constitutes a configuration in which eachof a plurality of such heat absorbing passages 10 and each of aplurality of such heat exhausting passages 11 are alternately stackedone upon the other via a said Peltier element 12.

FIGS. 3 and 4 shows a planar and a frontal configuration of the abovementioned fluid-fluid heat exchanger 9, respectively. FIG. 5 shows itscross sectional configuration, a cross sectional view taken along theline V--V of FIG. 3, thereby showing the portion of the above mentionedheat absorbing passages 10. Also, FIG. 6 shows a cross sectionalconfiguration, a cross sectional view taken along the line VI--VI ofFIG. 3, thereby showing the portion of the above mentioned heatexhausting passages 11.

The heat absorbing passage 10 shown in 5 is comprised of a heatabsorbing inlet plate 13a and a heat absorbing outlet plate 13b whichare positioned at both upper and lower ends thereof, respectively, and aplurality of intermediate heat absorbing plates 13c which are stackedone upon another and positioned between the said plates 13a and 13b. Ithas a construction in which each of the heat absorbing plates 13a, 13band 13c is provided with a path 14 that extends in a directionperpendicular to their stacking direction. And, the path 14 of each ofthe heat absorbing plates 13a, 13b and 13c has its both sides which areconnected to a path 14 for another heat absorbing plate at a pair ofjoint members 15a and 15b, respectively. An inlet joint pipe 16a and anoutlet joint pipe 16b which communicate with the respective one side ofeach of such plural paths 14 are coupled to the said heat absorbinginlet plate 13a and the said heat absorbing outlet plate 13b,respectively.

The above mentioned plural joint members 15a and 15b are constructed insuch a manner that each joint member 15a that is positioned at anupstream side of the inflow direction of the coolant may be provided atits mid position with a partition plate 15c and thereby closed and eachjoint member 15b that is positioned at a downstream side of the inflowdirection of the coolant may be opening through its mid portion. Thus,it is so constructed that the coolant that has been introduced from thesaid inlet joint pipe 16a may be led to flow in a zigzag pattern as awhole through the said heat absorbing plates 13a, 13c and 13b and be ledto flow into the said outlet joint pipe 16b.

On the other hand, the said heat exhausting passage 11, as shown in FIG.6, is constructed of a heat emitting inlet plate 17a and a heat emittingoutlet plate 17b which are positioned at its both ends and a pluralityof intermediate heat emitting plate 17c which are stacked one uponanother and positioned between the said plates 17a and 17b. And, each ofthe said heat emitting plates 17a, 17b and 17c is provided with a path18 that extends in a direction perpendicular to their staking direction.And, the said path 18 of each of the said heat emitting plates 17a, 17band 17c, like the above mentioned path 14 of each of the said heatabsorbing plates 13a, 13b and 13c of the said heat absorbing passage 10,is connected to another path 18 by the said joint member 15a provided atits mid portion with the said partition plate 15c and the said jointmember 15b opening through its mid portion so that the cooling water maybe led to flow in a zigzag pattern as a whole through such paths 18 inthe said heat absorbing plates 17a, 17c and 17b. In this connection, itshould be noted that the said paths 18 are connected at their upper andlower ends to the said intermediate heat emitting plates 17c via therespective joints members 15 and that an outlet joint 19a and an inletjoint 19b which communicate with the respective one side of each of thesaid plural paths 18 are coupled to the said heat emitting outlet plate17a and the said heat emitting inlet plate 17b, respectively.

As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, each of the said heat absorbing plates 13a,13b and 13c which constitute the above mentioned heat absorbing passage10 and each of the said heat emitting plates 17a, 17b and 17c whichconstitute the above mentioned heat exhausting passage 11 are stackedone upon another via a Peltier element 12 and bolted together. And, tothe said inlet joint pipe 16a and the said outlet joint pipe 16b of boththe heat absorbing inlet plate 13a and the heat absorbing outlet plate13b of the said heat absorbing passage 10, there is connected a coolantcircuit 7 as shown in FIG. 2. Also, to the said outlet joint 19a and thesaid inlet joint 19b of both the heat emitting outlet plate 17a and theheat emitting inlet plate 17b of the said heat exhausting passage 11,there is connected a cooling water circuit 20 as shown in FIG. 2. Inthis connection, it should be noted that an antifreezing liquid isutilized in the above mentioned coolant circuit 7.

Each Peltier element 12 as mentioned above is connected to a controlunit 21. This arrangement is constructed in such a manner that bypassing an electric current through the said control circuit 21, theheat may be absorbed from each of the said heat absorbing plates 13a,13b and 13c and may be emitted into each of the said heat emittingplates 17a, 17b and 17c.

In the fluid-fluid heat exchanger of the above mentioned construction,it can be seen that the coolant that has absorbed a heat and has beenelevated in temperature while passing through the said heat exchanger 6within the said air cooling dehumidifier 1 will be circulated throughthe said heat absorbing passage 10, during which time it will be cooledwithin each of the said heat absorbing plates 13a, 13b and 13c whichcollectively constitute the said heat absorbing passage 10 by a heatabsorbing action of the said Peltier element 12 in contact therewith.

On the other hand, the cooling water will be circulated through the heatexhausting passage 11 of the said fluid-fluid heat exchanger 9 so thatthe heat may be emitted by the heat emitting action of the abovementioned Peltier element 12 via each of the said heat emitting plates17a, 17b and 17c which collectively constitute the said heat exhaustingpassage 11.

In connection with the above, it should be noted that at the outlet sideof the air conditioning apparatus as shown in FIG. 1, there is provideda temperature and humidity sensor 22 for detecting the temperature andhumidity so that the above mentioned control device 21 may be responsiveto values that are detected by the said temperature and humidity sensor22 for controlling the fluid-fluid heat exchanger 9, the heater 2 andthe humidifier 3 mentioned above.

Also, the said intermediate heat absorbing plates 13c and the saidintermediate heat emitting plates 17c which constitute both the saidpassages 10 and 11 of the above mentioned fluid-fluid heat exchanger 9are constructed of common components of an identical configuration. And,the said intermediate heat absorbing plates 13 and the said intermediateheat emitting plates 17c can be increased or decreased by an identicalnumber, thereby enabling the heat exchanging capacity of the saidfluid-fluid heat exchanger 9 to be adjusted.

In the construction mentioned above, the air that is blown by the saidblower 4 will be dehumidified through the said air cooling dehumidifier1 to a predetermined absolute humidity, the air so dehumidified will beheated through the said heater 2 and the heated air will be humidifiedthrough the said humidifier 3 to yield an air stream of a predeterminedhumidity and a predetermined temperature. At this time, since waterdroplets condensed on the said air cooling dehumidifier 1 are led tofall onto an area other than the said air blowing outlet 5a of the saidair duct 5, they will not be allowed to fall from the the said airblowing outlet 5a.

And, the air conditioned air will then be detected with respect to itstemperature and humidity by the said temperature and humidity sensor 22that is located in the vicinity of the said air blowing outlet 5a. Ifthere is a difference between the detected value(s) and the abovementioned predetermined value(s) in respect of temperature and/orhumidity, the said control device 21 will be made operative to increaseand decrease the amount(s) of operation at the said heater 2 and/or thesaid humidifier 3, thus performing a control operation for thetemperature and/or the humidity.

Also, a temperature and humidity sensor may be disposed at the inletside of the flex portion 5b of the said air duct 5 whereby the dew-pointtemperature and the absolute humidity that can be calculated from thetemperature and humidity of the inlet air and the absolute humidity thatcan be calculated from the desired temperature and humidity of the airmay be compared with each other to automatically perform the mostefficient dehumidifying control operation.

And, the air that has optimally be dehumidified will be led to the saidheater 2 where it will be heated to a given temperature, and the heatedair will be humidified by the said humidifier 3 to a desired humidity.And, the resultant air will be fed out through the said blower 4. Atthis point it should be noted that if the said air blowing outlet 5a ofthe said air duct 5 is funnel-shaped as shown in FIG. 1, the air will beexpanded at such a funnel-shaped portion.

The air that has be fed out will be detected by the said temperature andhumidity sensor 22 that is located at the side of the said air blowingoutlet 5a. By controlling the said heater 2 and the said humidifier 3 inaccordance with its detected values, it should be noted that thetemperature and the humidity of the air will be controlled within anaccuracy of ±0.01° C. and ±0.1% RH.

In the above mentioned operation, if the said air cooling dehumidifier 1and the said heater 2 are arranged not to be directly opposite to eachother, the said air cooling dehumidifier 1 will have an influencethereon reduced that arises from a heat of radiation which is emittedfrom the said heater 2.

Also, in the above mentioned air cooling dehumidifier 1, it should benoted that if the coolant while passing therethrough is allowed to flowin a direction that is opposite to a direction in which the air flowstherethrough, the rise of the temperature of the coolant can beincreased, thereby improving the coolant-air heat exchanging efficiency.

The coolant that has absorbed a heat and has thereby been elevated intemperature in the said air cooling dehumidifier 1 will, while passingthrough the said fluid-fluid heat exchanger 9, be heat emitted by theheat absorbing action of a said Peltier element 12 towards the coolingwater side as mentioned previously. Thence, if in the said fluid-fluidheat exchanger 9 the coolant and the cooling water are led to flow in anopposition to each other or to flow orthogonally to each other as shownin the above mentioned embodiment, it should be noted that the operatingpoint of a said Peltier element 12 can be so established as to allow anenhanced efficiency of the operation, thereby permitting a heat transferfrom the coolant to the cooling air to be carried out efficiently.

An explanation will now be given with respect to the high efficiencyoperation of the said Peltier element 12 with reference to FIG. 7.

In the graph of FIG. 7, the abscissa represents the difference intemperature ΔT between the heat absorbing surface and the heat emittingsurface of the said Peltier element 12, that is, the difference intemperature between the coolant and the cooling water whereas theordinate represents the heat absorption quantity Qc. From this graph, itis seen that the greater the the difference in temperature ΔT, the lesswill be the heat absorption quantity Qc. One may consider that given thetemperatures of the coolant and the cooling water, ΔT will be constant;this is not so, however. In a case where the coolant, for example, of 0°C., that has been cooled by the said Peltier element 12 via the heatabsorbing plate 10 absorbs a heat from the air while it is passedthrough the said air cooling dehumidifier 1 to raise its temperature to10° C. and is then returned via the pump 8 again to the said heatabsorbing plate 10, the arithmetic average temperature of the heatabsorbing surface will be 5° C. and, if the cooling water has atemperature of 20° C., the difference in temperature ΔT will be 15° C.Since the temperature rise varies depending upon the manner in which thecoolant is led to flow towards the said air cooling dehumidifier 1, itwill be understood that it is also possible to alter the difference intemperature in the said Peltier element 12. Whilst the difference intemperature AT ought to be calculated in terms of the logarithmicaverage temperature since the temperature of the cooling water, too, iselevated in practice, it can be seen that there is no difference betweenthem in that the average difference in temperature can be altered. Morespecifically, in the said air cooling dehumidifier 1, it is importantthat an arrangement be made in which the air and the coolant flow indirections that are opposing to each other in order to reduce the rateof flow of the coolant. Also, in the said fluid-fluid heat exchanger 9as well, it will be seen that by making an arrangement in which thecooling water and the coolant flow in directions that are opposite toeach other, the difference in temperature ΔT (i. e. the averagetemperature difference) between the heat absorbing surface and the heatemitting surface of a said Peltier element 12 can be reduced.

FIG. 8 shows another embodiment of the fluid-fluid heat exchanger inwhich a plurality of heat exchanger units are utilized each unit havinga stack of a first heat emitting plate 17a, a heat absorbing plate 13cand a second heat emitting plate 17b in which the heat absorbing plate13 is interposed between a pair of the heat emitting plates 17a and 17bvia two Peltier elements 12 and 12, respectively. In this construction,it is seen that the coolant that is supplied by a pump 8 is led to flowthrough the respective heat absorbing plates 13 of the said plural heatexchanger units 23 in series whereas the cooling water is led to flowthough the said two heat emitting plates 17a and 17b of each heatexchanger unit 23 in parallel and is led to flow though the heatemitting plates 17a, 17b of the said plural heat exchange units 23 inseries.

Also, FIG. 9 shows the entire construction of another embodiment of theair conditioning apparatus according to the present invention, in whichconstruction an air intake inlet 5c of the air duct 5 is directeddownwards.

As set out in the foregoing, according to the present invention, thecondensed water produced within the air conditioning apparatus is notallowed to drop from the air blowing outlet 5a of the air duct 5. Also,the air conditioning apparatus according to the present invention allowsthe heat exchanger required to exhaust the heat that is absorbed in theair cooling dehumidifier 1 to be much small sized as well as lightweighted compared with a conventional apparatus utilizing a compressionrefrigerator and is capable of eliminating a generation of vibrationstherein. Also, the apparatus according to the present invention isrendered the most efficient among systems utilizing a Peltier element,thereby permitting the entire air conditioning equipment to be smallsized as well as light weighted. In addition, with the capability ofseparating the condensed water that is exhausted during an airconditioning operation from the air and the capability of installingitself directly upon an operating section of a spin coating equipment orthe like, the apparatus herein provided allows an ultra-high-precisionoperation to be implemented and can be prevented from occupying anexpensive clean room flour space.

Furthermore, by increasing or decreasing the numbers of the heatabsorbing plates and the heat emitting plates as well as the the numberof the Peltier elements 12, it can be seen that the capacity of the heatexchanger constituted thereby can readily be changed. Thus, it will benoted that the air processing capacity in the air cooling dehumidifier 1can thereby be readily adjusted as desired, without altering the crosssectional area of the air duct. Also, owing to the fact that theair-fluid heat exchanger 6 and the fluid-fluid heat exchanger 9 areseparated from each other, it will be apparent that the maintenanceoperation for the air conditioning apparatus can be facilitated.

While the present invention has hereinbefore been described with respectto certain illustrative embodiments thereof, it will readily beappreciated by a person skilled in the art to be obvious that manyalterations thereof, omissions therefrom and additions thereto can bemade without departing from the essence and the scope of the presentinvention. Accordingly, it should be understood that the presentinvention is not limited to the specific embodiments thereof set outabove, but includes all possible embodiments thereof that can be madewithin the scope with respect to the features specifically set forth inthe appended claims and encompasses all equivalents thereof.

What is claimed is:
 1. An air conditioning apparatus, comprising: an airduct and provided therein with a blower; a heater; a humidifier; an aircooling dehumidifier comprised of a heat exchanger, wherein said aircooling dehumidifier is disposed at a site that is shifted transverselyfrom an air blowing outlet of said air duct, said air from said air ductturning transversely immediately following said dehumidifier, whereinsaid air duct has a bent portion, wherein said air cooling dehumidifierand said heater are disposed ahead of and behind of said bent portion,respectively, and wherein said bent portion of said air duct is providedwith a flex portion.
 2. An air conditioning apparatus as set forth inclaim 1, further comprising a heat absorbing plate and a heat emittingplate arranged and stacked one upon the other such that a path disposedin said heat absorbing plate and a path disposed in said heat emittingplate extend orthogonally to each other; and a Peltier elementinterposed between said heat absorbing plate and said heat emittingplate.
 3. An air conditioning apparatus as set forth in claim 1, furthercomprising a heat absorbing plate and a heat emitting plate so arrangedand stacked one upon the other such that a path disposed in said heatabsorbing plate and a path disposed in said heat emitting plate extendin parallel to each other; and a Peltier element interposed between saidabsorbing plate and said heat emitting plate.
 4. An air conditioningapparatus, comprising: an air duct and provided therein with a blower; aheater; a humidifier; and an air cooling dehumidifier comprised of aheat exchanger,wherein said air cooling dehumidifier is disposed at asite that is shifted transversely from an air blowing outlet of said airduct, and wherein said air duct is provided with a flex portion and thatsaid air cooling dehumidifier and said heater are disposed ahead of, andbehind of, said flex portion, respectively.
 5. An air conditioningapparatus as set forth in claim 4, further comprising a heat absorbingplate and a heat emitting plate arranged and stacked one upon the othersuch that a path disposed in said heat absorbing plate and a pathdisposed in said heat emitting plate extend orthogonally to each other:and a Peltier element interposed between said heat absorbing plate andsaid heat emitting plate.
 6. An air conditioning apparatus as set forthin claim 4, further comprising a heat absorbing plate and a heatemitting plate so arranged and stacked one upon the other such that apath disposed in said heat absorbing plate and a path disposed in saidheat emitting plate extend in parallel to each other; and a Peltierelement interposed between said absorbing plate and said heat emittingplate.